


Running Out

by Officer_Jennie



Series: Tumblr Drabbles [8]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-24 15:01:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17102810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Officer_Jennie/pseuds/Officer_Jennie
Summary: I didn’t mean to write something sad





	Running Out

**Author's Note:**

> I didn’t mean to write something sad

_“Forgive me, Sasuke, maybe next time.“_

He used to dread those words. They always meant his brother was too busy, too wrapped up in everything else to pay attention to his little brother. They made him feel small, insignificant, as if not worth the time it took to even say them.

Now, he’d give anything to hear them again.

Itachi was alive, by some miracle, hanging on by only threads of hope and stubborn will. Despite his best efforts to hide his pain, it was clear his whole being ached, walking and eating and even the simple act of breathing having his fists clenched at times, fingernails biting into his palms.

Their cabin did little to save him from the weather, which only made it worse. But where else could they go? Outcasts of Fire Country, missing nin, S-ranked  criminals that betrayed their village (Sasuke couldn’t help the unbridled rage at the thought, remembering _Danzo_ , the bastard who’d caused all of this. Even after his death, his hatred had not lessened).

The situation was less than ideal, wind and rain a constant on the shores of Lake Country, but no one would look for them here. Itachi was safe, if not in the best of health (which he never would be again, body tearing itself apart from the inside, the damage done and irreversible). And safe was how Sasuke planned to keep him.

Their relationship, as well, would never be fixed. Too much blood pooled between them, too many years of psychological torture and night terrors forcing them apart. It left scars on both of them, jagged and ugly and plain to see.

It did not mean they didn’t try.

Sasuke did his best, swallowing back the instinctual panic at those hands near him, those eyes on his own. Would hold his hair back when the coughing fits took hold, brushing it in the early hours to sooth his brother’s nerves. Held him during the dark hours, the night sky black, moon and stars hidden behind thick clouds and blocking all light.

And Itachi tried too, unaware of how his efforts only left more wounds. Because no matter what Sasuke needed now, no matter what he asked of his brother, Itachi always had time for him now.

He never once said those words from his childhood. The ones that used to haunt him, used to make him tear up as a child, desperate for attention.

Now he knew that those were the easy years. Those were the only good years they ever had.

Because now, with Itachi’s health ever failing him, his every step shaky and sometimes unsure, his eyes dulled and sightless, he suddenly had _time_ for his useless little brother. Time not spent on anything else, anything more important, because there was nothing else for him.

And they both knew that time was running out.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from anon over on tumblr:  
> “"things you said when we were the happiest we ever were" for itachi and sasuke?”


End file.
